19. disappointing can have three different double-accented ... lexical to...Hector Ortiz Lira. 2008. From Lexical to Intonational Transcription. 12 12 in tonicity between sentence

Hector Ortiz Lira. 2008. From Lexical to Intonational Transcription. 8 8

19. In summary, double-stressed words such as disappointing can have three different accentual patterns in connected speech: (i) the double-accented pattern (equivalent to the citation pattern) occurs when the word is said in isolation or when there are no other accents in the IG to trigger stress shift, as in the answers (23) and (24) to the question What was the result?:

(23) Disappointing / »dIs´ ›pçIntIN/

(24) It was disappointing, really /It w´z »dIs´ ›pçIntIN rI´li/; (ii) the pattern with an early accent /...»dIs´pçIntIN.../ occurs in attributive position –i.e. when disappointing precedes result, as in example (19)–, and (iii) the form with a late accent /...dIs´ ›pçIntIN/ is used in predicative constructions –i.e. when disappointing follows result, as in example (20).

20. Speakers may choose not to apply stress shift if they want to sound emphatic. Here are examples (17) and (19) said in a deliberate, slow style of delivery:

(25) Let me tell you about elementary education

/ »let mi »tel ju ´baUt »el´»mentri »edZu ›keISn/

(26) It was a disappointing result /It w´z ´ »dIs´»pçIntIN rI ›z√lt/

21. Stress shift also involves other types of double-stressed expressions, such as the phrase very little –examples (27) to (29)– and the phrasal verb hold on –(30) to (32):

double-accented pattern: (27) A: Are you interested? B: Very little / »veri ›lItl/

attributive pattern:

(28) We have very little time /wi hQv »veri lItl ›taIm/

predicative pattern: (29) He said very little /hi »sed veri ›lItl/

double-accented pattern:

(30) A: Are you ready? B: Hold on, please / »hÚld êÅn pli˘z/

attributive pattern:

(31) Hold on tight, baby / »hÚld Ån êtaIt beIbi/


predicative pattern:

(32) Can you hold on? / »kQn ju hÚld êÅn/

22. Stress shift is less common in noun + noun collocations, since these usually result in patterns with a deaccented second noun. For instance, when the double-stressed noun personnel (/«pŒ˘s´»nel/) collocates with the noun manager (/ »mQnIdZ´/), the latter being an agent (i.e. the person who manages) it is deaccented and as a result there is no accent clash to originate stress shift:

dictionary, citation forms:

(33) personnel /«pŒ˘s´»nel/; manager / »mQnIdZ´/

connected speech; stress shift ruled out:

(34) I have an appointment with the personnel manager

(a) /aI hQv ń ´»pçIntmńt wID D´ »pŒ˘s´ ›nel mQnIdZ´/

(b) /aI hQv ń ´»pçIntmńt wID D´ pŒ˘s´ ›nel mQnIdZ´/

23. Secondary stresses appear as preceding, but never following, primary stresses in double-stressed simple words in LPD and EPD and, as you have seen, they have the potential to be realized as pitch accents. The use of secondary stresses after the primary is more variable: in LPD they occur only in double-stressed compound words when the second element of the compound has more than one syllable (e.g. keeping in housekeeping / »haUs«ki˘pIN/, consuming in time-consuming / »taIm kń«sju˘mIN/). In EPD secondary stresses occur after the primary irrespective of the number of syllables of the second element (e.g. time bomb / »taIm «bÅm/). Whichever the case, secondary stresses after the primary only represent a rhythmic beat but can never start pitch movement, i.e. they can never represent accents:

(35) Housekeeping can be very time-consuming

/ »haUski˘pIN kń bi »veri ›taIm kńsju˘mIN/

24. Some words are more informative than others, i.e. they mean more than others, and tonicity accounts for this fact. Semantically weightier words are normally accented. They are the so-called content or lexical or open-class items: nouns, main verbs, adjectives and many adverbs; on the other hand, structural (also known as function, grammatical or closed-class) words, which are semantically emptier, are more often than not deaccented: articles, auxiliary and modal verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and personal, relative and reflexive pronouns. A small group of structural words, however, tend to bear an accent: negative auxiliaries, numericals, wh words and emphatic, possessive and demonstrative pronouns, among others. Remember, on the other hand, that sequences of potentially accented words can be downgraded because of stress-shift, as can be seen in most of the examples quoted.


25. Another important role of tonicity consists in differentiating between new and given information –a crucial distinction to account for in intonational transcription. In IGs containing only new information, the last –and most important– pitch accent, called nucleus or nuclear accent, tends to fall on the last content word (also called last lexical item or LLI for short), as you can see in the majority of the examples so far quoted. A question such as What is it? or What’s the matter? will most likely be answered with a statement requiring new information. We say that these IGs are in broad focus, i.e. that the whole IG is in focus, and that nucleus placement is therefore neutral or unmarked, i.e. no emphasis or contrast is involved. In (36) all five IGs contain new information only; therefore, the LLI of each IG –the nouns world, mountains, planet, ocean and Chile– gets the nuclear accent:

(36) In the southern part of the world, wedged between the massive Andes Mountains, the driest desert on the planet and the vast Pacific Ocean lies Chile.

/In D´ »s√Dń pA˘t ´v D´ êwŒ˘ld, ñ »wedZ bItwi˘n D´ »mQsIv Qndi˘z

êmaUntInz, ñ

D´ »dra´st dez´t Ån ∂D´ ›plQnIt ñ ń D´ »vA˘s p´sIfIk êÚSn ñ »laIz ›tSIli/

26. IGs may also contain given information, e.g. repetitions or synonyms. When this happens they are said to be in narrow focus, which means that only part of the IG (i.e. the new material) is in focus. If the LLI conveys given information, the speaker will normally choose to place the nuclear accent on the last new lexical item, or even on a structural item, either to the right or the left of the lexical item. Notice these cases of marked nucleus placement in examples (37) to (39): in example (37) there is a repetition; in (38), go to sleep is deaccented because it is a synonym of go to bed and therefore want gets the nucleus. Finally, in (39) and (40) the nucleus comes on a preposition, either to the right or the left of the last, given lexical item, respectively:

(37) I was born the same day John Lennon was born

/ ‡aI w´z bç˘n ñ D´ »seIm deI dZÅn ›lenń w´z bç˘n/

(38) A: Why don’t you go to bed? / »waI dÚntSu gÚ t´ ›bed/

B: I don’t want to go to sleep /aI dÚnt ›wÅnt to gÚ t´ sli˘p/

(39) You say you’re here on business. What kind of business are you in?

/ju »seI jç˘ hI´r Åm ›bIznIs. Ñ wÅk »kaInd ´v bIznIs ´ ju ›In/

(40) A: I don’t know what to say /aI »dÚnt nÚ wÅt t´ ›seI/

B: There’s nothing to say /D´z »n√TIN ›to seI/

27. A special type of narrow focus is the contrastive focus, by which the speaker highlights elements in contrast. In (41) there are two sets of contrast –peak times vs. off-peak times and couple of minutes vs. seven minutes –and all of them get a nuclear accent. Notice that the


given material –as expected– is deaccented. In (42) the contrast is implicit between he and somebody who is not mentioned. In (43) two options are possible: the speaker treats point five percent as given only in the second IG of (a), and in (b) he treats it as given also in the first IG, –i.e. before he actually says it, as if he was thinking ahead:

(41) At peak times the underground system runs every couple of minutes. At off-peak times it’s every five or seven minutes

/´t Ûpi˘k taImz ñ Di »√nd´graUn sIst´m »r√nz »evri k√pl ´v ›mInIts. Ñ

´t ÛÅf pi˘k taImz ñ Its evri »faIv ç˘ ›sevm mInIts/

(42) Don said he was in charge /dÅn sed ›hi˘ w´z In tSA˘dZ/

(43) The results are seven point five percent, and nine point five percent

(a) /D´ rI»z√lts ´ »sevm pçInt ÛfaIv p´sent ñ ń ›naIn pçInt faIv p´sent/

(b) /D´ rI»z√lts ´ Ûsevm pçInt faIv p´sent ñ ń ›naIn pçInt faIv p´sent/

28. Sometimes the nuclear accent is not placed on the LLI of the IG, in spite of the fact that it is in broad focus and the speaker has no intention of conveying emphasis or contrast. This is –for the most part– an important language-specific difference between English and Spanish and concerns a number of constructions where the nucleus does not fall on the last verb, adjective or adverbial particle, but on the previous noun. This indicates the prevalence of nouns over other lexical items concerning tonicity in English. You will not find a similar accentual tendency in comparable Spanish contexts. We shall consider these exceptions to LLI in utterances in broad focus:

(44) The plumber called /D´ ›pl√m´ kç˘ld/

(45) I’ve just remembered a call I have to make

/aIv »dZ√st rI»memb´d ´ ›kç˘l aI hQv t´ meIk/

(46) There’s a lot of money involved /D´z ´ »lÅt ´v ›m√ni InvÅlvd/

(47) How much cash do you want? / »haU m√tS ›kQS d´ ju wÅnt/

(48) Don’t eat your food cold / »dÚnt i˘tSç˘ ›fu˘d kÚld/

(49) Are they going to clean the place up? / »A˘ DeI gÚIN t´ kli˘n D´ ›pleIs √p/

29. Another language-specific difference concerns adverbials occurring in final position in IGs in broad focus. Time and place adverbials –as explained in section 12– tend not to receive the nucleus in English, although they convey new information, e.g. (50) and (51); alternatively, they can form a separate IG with a rising pitch accent. Degree adverbials which function as downtoners, as in (52) and (53), are also deaccented. Finally, notice the difference


in tonicity between sentence adverbials, i.e. those which refer to the whole IG, as in (54), which are either deaccented (e.g. (a)) or take a rising nuclear accent in a separate IG (e.g. (b)). A non-sentence adverbial refers only to the verb, as in (55), and therefore gets the nucleus. The nuclear accent on the adverbials in (50) and (51) would indicate marked nucleus placement, i.e. emphatic meanings:

(50) Are you free the next couple of days?

(a) / »A˘ ju ›fri˘ D´ neks k√pl ´v deIz/

(b) / »A˘ ju ›fri˘ ñ D´ «neks k√pl ´v êdeIz/

(51) There’s a smudge of slipstick on this cup

(a) /D´z ´ »sm√dZ ´v ›slIpstIk Ån DIs k√p/

(b) /D´z ´ »sm√dZ ´v ›slIpstIk ñ Ån DIs êk√p/

(52) He looked surprised, sort of thing /hi »lUk s´ ›praIz sç˘t ´v TIN/

(53) I’d like to see the world a bit /aId »laIk t´ si˘ D´ ›wŒ˘ld ´ bIt/

(54) He didn’t react, stupidly

(a) /hi »dIdn ri ›Qk stju˘pIdli/ (= it was stupid of him not to react)

(b) /hi »dIdn ri ›Qkt ñ êstju˘pIdli/

(55) He didn’t react stupidly

/hi »dIdn riQk ›stju˘pIdli/ (= which was clever of him)

30. There is a group of semantically empty lexical items in English which, unlike Spanish, also tend to be deaccented. The same occurs to indefinite pronouns:

(56) It’s nice to help people /Its »naIs t´ ›help pi˘pl/

(57) You’re imagining things /jç˘r I ›mQdZInIN TINz/

(58) Did you tell anybody? /dIdZu ›tel enib´di/

(59) Did you go anywhere? /dIdZu ›gÚ eniwe´/

31. The last two cases of deaccented LLI in utterances in broad focus involve vocatives and reporting clauses. These types of phrases and clauses have a similar accentual behaviour in Spanish:

(60) Don’t touch anything, children / »dÚn ›t√tS eniTIN tSIldrn/

(61) ‘Are there any questions’, the teacher asked / »A˘ D´r eni êkwestSnz D´ ti˘tS´r A˘st/

32. In the following utterances in broad focus the LLI –all verbs– will bear the nucleus. Notice the phrasal verbs «put »up, «grew »up and «catch »up in (63), (66) and (67), all of which


are lexically double-stressed. In all cases, the verbs are followed by unaccented structural words, which are shown in bold:

(62) I just wanted to see you /aI »dZ√st wÅntId t´ ›si˘ ju/

(63) He refused to put up with them /Si rI»fju˘z t´ pUt ›√p wID Dm/

(64) I must thank you for it /aI m´s ›TQNk ju f´r It/

(65) I’ve decided to talk to him about it /aIv dI»saIdId t´ ›tç˘k t´ hIm ´baUt It/

(66) This is the house I grew up in / »DIs Iz D´ haUs aI gru˘ ›√p In/

(67) I’ll never catch up with you /aIl »nev´ kQtS ›√p wID ju/

33. The following table summarizes the main tendencies related to nucleus placement. The unmarked pattern 1 is, statistically, the most common. The special cases have been organized into two groups: the high accentability of nouns over other lexical items in 1.2.1, and the deaccenting of lexical items in 1.2.2, 1.2.3 and 1.2.4. ‘N’ stands for nucleus; ‘LLI’, for last lexical item –i.e. last content word–, and ‘IG’, for intonation group):

1.1 Unmarked nucleus placement, late nucleus: N on LLI (IGs 5, 17, 19, 20, 22, 28, 34-36, 55, 58, 59, 62-67)

1.2 Unmarked nucleus placement, early nucleus: 1.2.1 N on last noun in sequences N+V, N+Adj and N+Adv particle (IGs 7, 44-49) 1.2.2 Deaccenting of time, place, downtoner and sentence adverbials (IGs 13, 24, 50- 54) 1.2.3 Deaccenting of semantically empty lexical items (IGs 56, 57) 1.2.4 Deaccenting of final vocatives and reporting clauses (IGs 12, 31, 60, 61)

2.1 N on last new lexical item (IGs 37, 38, 41) 2.2 N on structural word (IGs 39, 40) 2.3 N on contrastive (lexical or structural) items (IGs 42, 43)

34. We shall now examine the structure of different types of IGs. As has become evident from the examples given so far, an IG may contain one or several pitch accents, the only compulsory one being the nucleus. This may be preceded and followed by deaccented words or syllables, as in the answers (68) to (70) to the question What do you call a seat with no back or arms?

1. IGs in broad focus

2. IGs in narrow focus


(68) Stool / ›stu˘l/

(69) That’s a stool /DQts ´ ›stu˘l/

(70) Stool I think it’s called / ›stu˘l aI TINk Its kç˘ld/

The deaccented syllables and words preceding the nuclear accent (i.e. That’s a) are called prehead and are generally said on a low pitch; the marked, high prehead will not be considered in this paper. The deaccented syllables following the nucleus (I think it’s called) are the tail. The stretch beginning on the nucleus and finishing on the last syllable of the tail is called nuclear tone.

35. The nuclear accent may also be preceded by one or more prenuclear accents. The portion of utterance which begins on the first pitch accent (also called onset) and finishes on the syllable immediately preceding the nucleus is the head. Heads contribute to the general meaning of the IG by modifying the meaning conveyed by the nuclear tone.

36. To sum up, IGs can be structured in eight different ways (where N = nucleus; H = head; PH = prehead; T = tail):

PH H N T PH H N PH N T PH N H N T H N N T N

37. The following example shows the maximum number of components (i.e. four) an IG can have. ‘O’ stands for onset –the first pitch accent in the head:

(71) They were determined to have a memorable experience

/DeI w´ dI»tŒ˘mIn t´ hQv a »mem´r´bl Ik ›spI´rińs/

DeI w´ dI »tŒ˘ mIn t´ hQv a »mem´r´bl Ik ›spI´ rińs

PH H N T

O NUCLEAR TONE


38. From this section onwards we address the last of the three choices speakers can make: tone. That is, once you have decided what syllables (and words) are to bear accents, you must choose the type of pitch movement associated with the prenuclear accent(s) (i.e. the head) and the nuclear accent. Since tails are deaccented by definition, their pitch behaviour depends on the choice of nuclear accent. The following inventory of tonetic stress marks contains a convenient number of pitch accents –both nuclear and prenuclear– to use for EFL purposes. The first is a list of seven nuclear pitch accents displayed on the word me; it includes their names, a phonetic description and the corresponding interlinear tonetic transcription (ITT), which is a type of narrow transcription representing the actual moving pitch. The second list contains four prenuclear accents displayed on the word why:

Tonetic-stress marks to use as nuclear accents:

NAME OF ACCENT DESCRIPTION OF PITCH I. T. T.

1. ñ ›Meñ high-fall (HF) fall from high to low

2. ñ ›Meñ low-fall (LF) fall from mid to low

3. ñ @Meñ high-rise (HR) rise ending high

4. ñ @

Meñ low-rise (LR) rise ending mid

5. ñ &Meñ fall-rise (FR) fall and then rise

6. ñ ÊMeñ rise-fall (RF) rise and then fall

7. ñ ›Meñ mid-level (ML) mid, sustained


39. The prenuclear accents –used in heads– are of four types: two level (high and low), one falling and one rising. Heads containing one single pitch accent are called simple; those containing more than one are called complex. In general, complex heads convey more emphasis than simple heads. Within complex heads, those containing accents other than the high-level are even weightier:

(72) I’ve never felt happier

(a) /aIv »nev´ felt ›hQpi´/ (simple head + LF)

(b) /aIv »nev´ »felt ›hQpi´/ (complex head + LF)

(c) /aIv ›nev´ ›felt ›hQpi´/ (complex head + LF)

40. The following table contains labels, descriptions and the corresponding interlinear tonetic transcriptions of the four types of prenuclear pitch accents:

Tonetic-stress marks to use as prenuclear (head) accents:

NAME OF ACCENT DESCRIPTION OF PITCH NAME OF HEAD I. T. T.

1. ñ »Whyñ high-level (HL) high, sustained high

2. ñ ›Whyñ high-fall (HF) fall from high falling

3. ñ «Whyñ low-level (LL) low, sustained low

4. ñ @

Whyñ low-rise (LR) rise ending mid rising

41. The mark showing the high-level pitch accent, i.e. ‘ » ’ , is only used to represent a high head and can never be used as a nuclear accent. If a complex head contains several pitch accents, these will usually be of the same type, e.g. a sequence of two or three high-level prenuclear accents in the case of a high head. The low head, consisting of one or more low-level pitch accents, i.e. ‘ « ’, is often auditorily difficult to differentiate from a prehead –which is also low in pitch– and in most cases may be ignored and therefore left unmarked.


42. Head and nuclear pitch accents do not combine freely. The high head ( »w) combines with the seven nuclear accents. Whether simple or complex, this is considered the default, least emphatic (i.e. neutral) head and therefore the most commonly used. In a complex high head consisting of a series of high-level accents (i.e. »w »w »w) each accent is said on a pitch slightly lower than the preceding one. The following are the only possible patterns that we shall consider:

head nucleus

high + HF (75) /D´ »sekr´tri »prÅmIst ´ »fUl InvestI ôgeISn/

high + LF (76) /D´ »sekr´tri »prÅmIst ´ »fUl InvestI ôgeISn/

high + HR (77) /D´ »sekr´tri »prÅmIst ´ »fUl InvestI êgeISn/

high + LR (78) /D´ »sekr´tri »prÅmIst ´ »fUl InvestI êgeISn/

high + RF (79) /D´ »sekr´tri »prÅmIst ´ »fUl InvestI ÊgeISn/


high + ML (80) /D´ »sekr´tri »prÅmIst ´ »fUl InvestI›geISn/

43. The falling head –simple and complex– often combines with the fall-rise nuclear accent. In a complex falling head consisting of a series of high-fall accents (i.e. ôw ôw ôw) each accent is slightly lower than the preceding one, in a way similar to high heads:

head nucleus

falling + FR (81) /D´ ›sekr´tri ›prÅmIst ´ ›fUl InvestI ÛgeISn/

44. The low head –simple and complex– often combines with the low-rise nuclear accent, e.g.

head nucleus

low + LR (82) /D´ »sekr´tri »prÅmIst ´ »fUl InvestI ê geISn/

45. The rising head –simple and complex– often combines with the high-fall nuclear accent, e.g.

head nucleus

rising + HF (83) /D´ êsekr´tri

êprÅmIst ´

êfUl InvestI ôgeISn/


46. The following is an example of a small paragraph displaying tonality, tonicity, and tone:

(84) Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It gives me very great pleasure to introduce our speaker this evening, Dr Richard Snow. I’m sure all of us here are acquainted

with his fascinating book on the mating habits of the South American penguin. Therefore, you will all share my great interest in meeting the author himself.

Dr Snow has just returned from yet another trip, this time to the southernmost latitudes of Chile. This evening he’s going to tell us some of his experiences.

Ladies and gentlemen, Dr Richard Snow.

/ »gUd êi˘vnIN, leIdiz ń dZentlmń. Ñ It gIvz mi »veri greIt ›pleZ´, ñ tu

»Intr´»dju˘s A˘ ›spi˘k´ ñ DIs êi˘vnIN, ñ dÅkt´ »rItS´d ›snÚ. Ñ aIm »Sç˘r ›ç˘l ´v ´s ñ

êhI´ ñ

´r ´»kweIntId wID Iz ‡fQsIneItIN bUk ñ Ån D´ »meItIN ›hQbIts ñ ´v D´ »saUT ´»merIkń ›peNgwIn. Ñ ‡De´fç˘ ñ ju wl »ç˘l ›Se´ ñ maI »greIt

êIntr´st ñ In »mi˘tIN Di

»ç˘T´ hIm ›self. Ñ »dÅkt´ êsnÚ ñ h´z »dZ√s rI»tŒ˘n frm jet ´ ›n√D´ trIp, ñ ‡DIs taIm ñ

t´ D´ »s√DnmÚs »lQtItju˘dz ´v ›tSIli. Ñ ‡DIs i˘vnIN ñ hiz gÚIN t´ »tel ´s »s√m ´v Iz Ik ›spI´rInsIz. Ñ »leIdiz ń

êdZentlmń, ñ dÅkt´ »rItS´d ›snÚ/

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19. disappointing can have three different double-accented ... lexical to...Hector Ortiz Lira. 2008. From Lexical to Intonational Transcription. 12 12 in tonicity between sentence